Hues
by Darksknight
Summary: (Sequel to Color) It had been solitary, there, among all the black and white. It had seemed like his eyes were the interesting hue in the entire world then. Orihime came to find that she loved the color grey- it was just as dazzling as purple or pink or blue, too. Four years late, she's taken back to her world again... Well, things have changed. And yet, it's like she never left.
1. Hues

It was funny that in a world devoid of color Orihime Inoue could still say she had every hue she had ever wanted. Every shade of every pigment, put down to a green.

It was captivating, just staring into those eyes.

It was funny, too, how she came to believe that grey was a color. Well, yes, it was a color, but not really one that someone would count outside of the prism of black and white. But Orihime came to find that she loved the color grey- it was just as dazzling as purple or pink or blue.

She came to love that color, what little color it was. It was one of the only hues she had left.

The only color she had seen in four years.

By this time she had grown a bit frail, but was still amazed to find that she was in good health. She didn't use her powers very much, nor did Ulquiorra, because they needed what little reishi was left in the air. They had managed to make it last a long, long time.

The palace had decayed over time, little bits and chunks of it finally falling off and into the darkness of the dead space around them. They had used their powers occasionally to protect themselves from pieces of Los Noches falling down.

"Mommy, tell me about the sun again!" A small girl pleaded, bouncing on her small bed. "I want to know all about the sun and the sky!"

Orihime smiled softly, sitting down on the girl's blue comforter. They had found it in Tia Halibel's room and taken it for their own- blue was a shade of color that they had been able to expose their daughter to.

"Well," Orihime started, looking up at the ceiling. "The sun orbits the earth. And every day it rises up over the horizon-" She moved her hand up arching it in her imaginary sky. "-and then falls back down every night."

"And it turns to darkness!" The little girl cried, falling back with a giggle onto her bed. "Just like outside. Except with stars!"

"That's right." Orihime mused with a happy smile. "The stars glitter like thousands of little suns- because they are- but white."

"White's a good color." The girl agreed sagely, nodding her head.

"Yep! And then it happens all over again."

"Wait, mommy, you forgot about the sky!"

"Oh, that's right." Orihime lightly hit her fist into her open palm, not noticing as her daughter mimicked her. "It's blue-"

"Like my bed!"

"But lighter. With white puffy clouds like pillows floating up in the sky."

"Wow!" Laughing the girl picked up her pillow and hopped down from her bed, holding it up over her head as she ran in circles. "Cloud!" She cheered, jumping up and holding it up. "Look, look, I'm a cloud!"

Orihime laughed, too, clapping. She watched happily as her daughter's dark hair streamed behind her, the light curls bounding off her back. Her grey eyes turned back to see her mother's matching ones, beaming with all the radiance of the sun itself.

"When I grow up," The girl decided, "I'm going to be a cloud."

Orihime laughed again, nodding. "Yes! That's a perfect idea! What kind of cloud will you be? A light fluffy cloud?"

"Nope!"

"A big fat cloud!"

The girl laughed. "Nope!"

"What about… a little tiny cloud shaped like a monkey?"

"No, mommy! I'll be a rain cloud!"

Orihime faked a gasp. "A rain cloud?"

"Yep! That way I'll feed all the plants and make everything super green."

Orihime nodded. "That's a great idea. But, I think you'll have to wait to become a cloud until tomorrow." She patted the bed, giving her daughter a knowing look. "Come on, Ayume."

With an obedient nod, the little girl clambered up onto the bed, her small white nightgown sliding up over her legs. She burrowed down under the comforter, holding it to her chin with her little hands.

"Mom?"

"Hm?"

"When will daddy be back?"

Orihime smiled. "He'll be here when you wake up. He just had to go to the other side of the castle and repair a beam."

"Okay. Will you wake me up if her gets home tonight?"

"But little girls need their sleep!" Orihime declared. "If I wake you up when he gets home you'll be all sleepy tomorrow and you won't have any fun playing with him."

She pouted. "Aw. Okay."

Orihime smiled fondly again, smoothing out her daughter's hair and placing a light kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight Ayume!"

"Goodnight, Mommy."

(~)

Ichigo steeled his face, determination etched into his eyes. He grasped the back of his sword, leaning forward slightly.

"Ready?" A man shaded by his hat asked.

Ichigo looked back at the rest of his team.

Chad nodded.

"Yes." Uryuu confirmed.

"Ready!" Renji called.

Rukia smirked up at Ichigo. "Of course."

Ichigo nodded at Urahara. "Let's go."

From the back came a loud "Hey!" And then a man came strolling from the shadows. "You were all going back without me? You little shits!"

"Grimmjow?" Ichigo asked. What was lieutenant of second division doing there…?

"You didn't think you were going to save bat shit and princess without me, did ya?" He crowed, coming to stand behind the gang.

"Poor choice of words," A woman's voice said as she came to stand in the light as well. "But I have to agree."

"Jeez, Tia, why'd you have to drag me along?" Stark asked, rubbing the back of his neck. "This is such a pain."

"Oh, come on Stark!" Lillinet whined. "This'll be fun!"

Urahara grinned. "Is that everybody?"

No one else stepped forward from the shadows.

"Well then, I'll say have a nice trip." With that, the man cranked down the lever he stood by, a huge portal opening before the group. "Come back in one piece!" He called, waving them all goodbye.

Then they were off.

* * *

That's right folks. It's back. I sort of left everyone hanging on Color, I relise, and while I LOVED that ending I thought about a happier alternative to the two perishing away inside the limbo. And so, here it is. (It gets better I promise. I don't usually like child fics ether, but this is going to work.) And yes, this means longer chapters, those of you who were on Dreams of Flying while I was still writing it.

I know update every Saturday.


	2. Discovery

Orihime looked up from the dress she had been sowing- something she had recently started to do in order to cloth their daughter. She was just glad she had spent so much time in the handy crafts club back in the world of the living.

"Oh, Ulquiorra, you're back!" She jumped up with a huge smile, her arms easily slipping around his torso. He returned her embrace, smoothing down the back of her hair like he always did. She looked up at him, a little frown tugging down her face. "What's wrong?"

_BOOM!_

The ceiling above them caved in, falling with enough force to crush the both of them to death.

Ulquiorra fired a cero, small as it was, behind them and opened up a wall, but at the same time the two both realized that they wouldn't have enough time to grab their daughter and run.

"Shun shun Rika- I reject!" Orihime screamed, holding out her hands. She watched as Ayume sat up with wide eyes in her bed, encased by a glowing golden shield.

Orihime was tugged back by Ulquiorra into the hole in the wall, he knew that Ayume would be fine under Orihime's shield. The marble above them finally gave way, crashing down and trapping them inside the wall.

Ayume sat still, her eyes wide.

After a moment, the gold shield around her shot off, clearing all the debris on top of her, the small wall of yellow crumbling and letting her free.

She sat up carefully, grey eyes wide. "Mom…? Dad?" She climbed up out of the ruble, looking around. "Mom! Dad!"

"We're okay!" She heard her mother yell. "I think we might be stuck though!"

Shaking, the little girl pulled her nightgown tighter around her. "I'll help you!"

"No." She heard her father say. "We will be fine. Go find somewhere to sleep and stay. Find something to eat. We will manage a way out."

Ayume was brave, but she never once defied her father. "Okay!"

"Thank you!" Orihime yelled. "We'll see you soon!"

"Should I come back here?" She asked, staring to carefully walk away.

"No!" Her mother yelled again. "It's still unstable, more might fall!"

She nodded, not realizing her parents couldn't see it. "B-Bye!"

"Bye! We love you!"

"We will see you soon, Ayume."

With that the girl crawled over the broken chunks of stone and marble, barely slipping out under the door's arch and tumbling down to the floor. She thought for a second before taking off to the room in the top tower- the room that had belonged to a nice lady called Halibel. Her mother had told her all about the woman, so she felt very at home in the former espada's room. She and her parents sometimes stayed in the room when the rest of the palace got really hot. She was sure that she had a dress in the room…

So she ran.

(~)

It had been a day since they had entered the palace. It was falling to pieces, and there was so little reishi in the air that Uryuu could barely form his bow when he tried.

Because of the lack of reishi, their quincy friend had been unable to use spirit ribbons to locate Ulquiorra or Orihime.

Things were staring to look grim.

The group had fanned out to search the palace, and then re-assembled for the night. No one had found anything, and according to Tia the hall leading to Ulquiorra's courters had recently fallen in.

If Ulquiorra or Orihime were still alive, they were suppressing what reatsu they had. That was good, Rukia said. They would last longer keeping their spiritual pressure in.

The group all flashed to the meeting point, not having found anything.

"They took my sheets." Tia said with a slight frown. "But there is no dust in my room, so it stands to reason they may have done it recently."

Stark shook his head. "Your room has the best airflow in this entire place. Dust wouldn't build up in their- it's too humid."

She looked down at the ground.

"You don't think-" Renji started.

"No." Rukia said, shaking her head. "They have to be alive!"

Ichigo looked away from her, frowning. "We should have worked harder on making a portal." He growled. "If we would have gotten here sooner-"

"Oh, come on! They can't be dead." Grimmjow interrupted. "No way bat shit would have let princess bight the dust. Maybe in six years, but come on, it's only been four!"

Everyone looked down.

"What!? Come _on_! Those two are pretty damn resourceful. They could have made everything last a couple a' years!"

Chad spoke then, to everyone's surprise. "Maybe they found a way back to Hueco Mundo."

"I highly doubt it." Halibel said with a frown. "Hollows are the only ones who can stay in this dimension and get out- with our garganta powers we can make a path through it, but if we step off the path then there's simply no way back to ether world. It stands to reason that-"

Uyruu's head flew up. "I sense something."

"Is it them?" Rukia asked excitedly.

"No… I… it's hard to make out." He said in frustration. "But I don't think it's them…"

Stark sighed. "It's probably a hollow."

"No, it's-" Uyruu turned, looking down a hallway with wide eyes.

Something went running past.

"There!" He pointed, causing everyone to turn. "I saw it!"

Ichigo took a step forward. "What…? I don't see anything."

From the corner down the hall, a little head timidly peaked around the corner.

"There!" Uryuu said again.

Renji squinted. "Looks like just another arancar… I guess you guys didn't get everyone out."

"We should return it to Hueco Mundo, then." Tia said, stepping forward. "We should-"

The figure suddenly flashed, and then she was standing in the hall directly in front of them. She stood tall and proud, her hands linked behind her back.

"You will tell me what you are doing here," She said frostily. "And you will tell me what you are."

For a second no one spoke.

Then, Rukia did. "She's… so… cute!"

The girl narrowed her eyes. "I will count to three," She said sternly. "And if you do not tell me what you are and why you are here I will finish you."

"Aw!" Rukia said, siting on her knees at the front of the group. "We don't mean you any harm! We're shinigami, we came to see if anyone was still here. We're here to take you back to Hueco Mundo." She held her arms out to the girl, as if to hug her, but the arranncar swiftly held out a hand and pointed an index finger at her.

A tiny ball of yellow formed at her finger, aimed at Rukia. "You can't take me." She said, a slight tremble in her voice. "I- I have to wait for my parents!"

"Parents?"

Grimmjow, the most unlikely to have figure it out, suddenly started to yell. "No fucking way!" Everyone looked back at him, confused, to see he was wildly pointing at the girl. "It's Ulqui-fucking-orra's kid!"

For a second everyone just stared at the girl.

"Bat shit knocked up the princess!" Grimmjow crowed. "This whole time, we were all so worried about them and they were down here having the time of their lives fucking-"

"Grimmjow!" Tia interrupted him. "That's enough."

Ichigo looked away from the girl, face twisted in horror. "Gah… Gah… GAH!" He shook his head, hands over his ears. "I don't need that image! There's no way! It's just not possible!"

Uyruu, looking a little crestfallen and a bit queasy, shook his head. "Actually, it is…" He looked at the girl. "How old are you?" He asked quietly.

Through narrowed eyes the girl answered, "I'm three."

"Awww!" Rukia said, smiling wide. "You're so mature for someone so young."

The girl said nothing, keeping a gold cero locked onto the group.

"Wow." Chad said.

"Well then…" Renji added.

"Not surprised." Stark commented.

"Now I have someone to play with!" Lillenet cheered with a fist-pump.

"Gaahh…." Ichigo groaned.

Rukia smiled brightly, dropping her hands. "Do you know where Orihime and Ulquiorra are?" She asked.

The girl blinked in surprise, lowering her hand. "You… you know them?"

"We're old friends." Tia said, glaring at Grimmjow as he doubled over laughing, still going on about Orihime and Ulquiorra's happenings.

The girl titled her head to the side, staring at Rukia. It seemed to hit her then, as her gray eyes widened a little. "Aunt Rukia?" She asked in awe.

Rukia's smile grew wider. "I'm an aunt!" She squealed.

It was like someone had flicked a switch on the girl, as she went flying to the shinigami woman with her arms open wide. She laughed as she slammed into Rukia, hugging her close. "I've been alone!" She cried, holding onto Rukia. "I was scared you were hollows."

The group stilled, their sudden mirth gone.

Ichigo turned to the girl. "You… You've been alone?"

She nodded a little, looking up at him from the corner of her eye.

"For how long?" He asked in dread.

"Four days." She said quietly.

"Where are they?"

"…Our room. I'm not supposed to go back there, they said no."

Softly, Rukia asked, "Can you take us there?"

She nodded, and then smiled. "But first…" She pointed up at Ichigo. "Kurosaki-kun!"

He blinked in surprise. "Uh, yeah…"

"I know because you have hair like a carrot." They all ignored Grimmjow's chortling as she moved to point at Chad. "Chad?"

He nodded.

She pointed up at Uryuu. "Ishida!" She steeled her face, and in a serious tone a little too close to Ulquiorra's own to not be related, she said, "The Quincy."

He smiled a little, pushing his glasses up. "Yes."

She nodded to herself, turning to Halibel with a smile. "Miss Halibel?" The woman nodded. "Stark." He nodded as well. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

Tia snorted with laughter. "She knows you."

He shrugged.

She then turned to point at the girl at his side. "Lilly?"

"Lillinete!"

Another nod. "Pineapple head is Renji."

Renji: "Hey!"

Ichigo: "Hahahahahahaha!"

"And…" her hand stopped at Grimmjow.

He waited almost looking excited, expectant.

She titled her head to the side. "I don't know."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?!"

She shrugged. "I don't know. But daddy says that men with blue hair are trash." Ignoring Ichigo's belly-laugh and Grimmjow's growl, she said, "And mommy said they lose their arms."

"Hey! That happened _one time_!"

The girl blinked. "Oh. So it was _you _they were talking about?" She smiled. "Well, I don't know what kind of idiot loses an arm."

Tia, biting back her own amusement, asked, "And your name?"

"Ayume!"

Rukia cooed. "Awww! Everything about you is so cute!"

"Well then, Ayume." Tia turned, heading back to where she knew Ulquiorra's room to be. "Lead the way, will you? We'll help you find your parents."

The girl nodded, and clamoring to her feet, flashed to the front of the group in a small burst of sonido. She looked back at the surprised spectators, blinking. "Come." She demanded.

"Definitely Ulquiorra's kid." Grimmjow spat.

"Yoruichi would be proud." Ichigo said to himself. "She's not bad."

They followed the young girl through the halls, watching as she looked back over her shoulders several times to make sure that they were, indeed, following her. She talked every now and then in quick bubbly tones- very Orihime like.

"We're here." She said quietly.

Halibel, to herself, thought that the girl was much too evolved for her age. A child prodigy, yes, but also a little bigger than she should have been. Just barely- she looked about four of five. She figured it must have to do with being the product of two different beings- Hollows and Humans were much different then Soul Reapers and Humans. Hollows, when young, tended to mature a little faster until they were at the age they could defend themselves.

Ishida swallowed thickly. "They… they're in there?" He asked.

The girl nodded. "Daddy made a hole in the wall for them… he said they could get out, but I think he was lying." She frowned. "He doesn't do that very often. Only when the truth is really scary."

Just when Uryuu thought that the girl couldn't get anymore like Orihime she shuddered, whispering to herself, "Scary as Santa Clause."

Grimmjow took a step forward, opening up a palm, but the girl smacked his hand out of the air.

Grimmjow glared down at her. "What now, half pint?"

She puffed out her cheeks. "You can't use your powers." She chastised. To herself, she added, "Blue haired men really are morons."

"Oi!" Grimmjow bowed down to glare into her eyes. "Who you callin' a moron?" He seethed.

She stood a little taller. "Just as father said. Trash, moron, and a complete fool." She nodded, almost looking sorry. "You poor thing."

Grimmjow stood, glaring down at her. "Well _I_ hope that we dig up his dead body. Who'll be the trash then?" He said, not understanding that not everyone understood his humor right off the bat.

The affect was instantaneous.

Ayume's little eyes welled up with tears, which quickly began to spill over. She didn't make a sound, instead just hurriedly wiping away the tears as she bit her bottom lip.

"Wh-what?" Grimmjow suddenly felt a small wave of panic rise up in his gut as he stooped back down to her level. "H-Hey! I was just kiddin' kid!" When she started to cry even harder he reached out a hand, awkwardly patting her head. "Oh, for fuck's sake, shorty, he's gonna be fine!"

Feeling a prickle of heat on the back of his neck Grimmjow turned, eyes going a little wide when he found every single member of the team staring at him with full-force death glares.

"I didn't mean to make her cry!" He yelled, standing. "How was I supposed to know?!"

Halibel ghosted past him without a word, carefully picking up the girl and holding the crying figure to her front. She gave Grimmjow a seething look of killing intent. "Start digging." She commanded through clenched teeth.

Grimmjow huffed, turning back around, and began to fling rocks back behind him. Within moments the rest of the group had come to help him, Halibel standing back and watching with the girl.

Whispering a sweet lullaby about sharks eating enemies, Halibel rocked back and forth on her feet with the child, patting Ayume's back soothingly. She soon stopped crying, listening to the song with interest.

"Miss Halibel, what's a spine?" She asked suddenly. "And what happens when you rip it out?"

Tia, for only a moment, wondered if her shark song had been the best choice. She cast that thought away as soon as she thought it, though. Of _course_ it was the right choice. Was there anything her deathly lullaby couldn't help?

Unless you were the victim of a shark attack yourself, the answer was no.

At one point Ichigo stood, pushing back his sleeves. "This is ridiculous." He muttered. "I'm going to use my-"

"No." Ayume sent him a strong glare. "You can't use your powers."

Rukia stood up, stretching. "She's right. There's so little spiritual particles in the air that using your powers will drain Orihime and Ulquiorra if they're near by."

With a frown, Ichigo got back to work.

Halibel set Ayume down after a time, standing by Stark and helping pull back ruble. They came to the door of the room, finally. Everyone watched as Ayume scrambled up the piled of debris, slipping up under the door frame and into the room. Lillinette was quick to follow, prompting everyone else to squeeze through the space.

"They're over here!" Ayume cried, pointing at a wall almost all the way buried beneath the caved in ceiling.

Thanking the designers of Los Noches for the high ceiling, everyone filed in and started carefully pulling away the rocks at the wall, throwing them back against the opposite side of the room. The process was slow and tedious, as they had to make sure no rocks fell back into the wall incase the two they were looking for where still there.

Renji suddenly stopped digging, mouth tugged down in a slight frown. "Over here."

Ichigo, who was the closest, clamored over to where the red head was standing. His eyes wide, he crouched down. "It's Inoue." He said quietly.

Her hand was limp on the ground, her pinky crushed by a fallen rock. It was covered in dirt, bruised all over the side. But the dainty fingers were Orihime's- no doubt about it.

"Guys, over here!" Ichigo yelled, motioning with his arm. "We found them!"

The hand led to a wrist which became an arm. They started digging out a half-circle at the wall, soon finding Orihime's face resting on Ulquiorra's shoulder. Her head leaned into his, her body pinned to the wall by his own. He had pushed out his wings in a hurry, it seemed, as they shielded Orihime but were oddly scrunched in at the same time. The edge of his left wing was folded in like paper, oozing blood.

Ulquiorra fell out of the wall first, Rukia managing to catch him just barely. She grunted and pushed him back up, her arms shaking until Uryuu had come to help her lay him out on the ground. Orihime came with him, still limp, one of her hands tightly gripped in his own. Ishida was especially careful with her, looking up with a nod of thanks when Stark and Chad helped lower her, too.

"Give her some space." Ishida said, backing up out of the pit.

Everyone stared.

"…Mom?"

Grimmjow looked down at Ayume, suddenly feeling drowned in his own guilt for what he had said earlier. The girl didn't look like she was going to cry or like she was scared, but rather confused.

No one had the heart to stop the girl as she slid down the crater they had dug, stopping down and kneeling by her parents. She reached out and touched her mother's back, shaking her.

"Mom, wake up." She turned to her father, poking his cheek. "Daddy?"

Everyone jumped as Ulquiorra's eyes snapped open, zeroing in on his child. "Ayume." He grunted. "I have told you before- do not poke at my face."

The girl grinned an Orihime smile, tilting her head to the side. "Sorry!"

Everyone was frozen in amazement, looking down at Ulquiorra as he slowly sat up, still cradling Orihime's body. He gently shook her shoulder, and then her grey eyes fluttered open as well.

She, unlike Ulquiorra, immediately saw their company.

"Oh." She said in a dream-like voice. "You could have called, I would have made tea."

It was like the spell had been broken, as one by one everyone shook themselves out of their musings.

"I _told_ you they'd be just fine." Grimmjow barked down at Ayume.

Halibel smacked him upside the head, seeing as Soi Fon wasn't there to do it herself.

"The fuck, Halibel? I did!"

Ulquiorra's eye began to twitch in annoyance. "If I did not know better, I would say that idiot Grimmjow had somehow broken into our room."

"Shit, it wasn't easy ether!" Grimmjow yelled. "You know how long it took us to dig you up, bat shit? A pretty fucking long time."

Ulquiorra looked up over his shoulder with a frosty glare.

Orihime smiled, cradling her broken hand in her other one as she sat up in Ulquiorra's lap. "Heh heh… well, it's been a while! Good to see you all again!"

Ulquiorra looked like he disagreed.

"And, um, it's not that we aren't happy to see you- because we really are-"

Ulquiorra cut her off. "How did you get here?"

"Also, thank you for saving us!" Orihime added cheerily.

Ayume beamed and scooted closer to her parents, latching onto Ulquiorra's arm with a watermelon smile, nuzzling her face into his side. He acted like he didn't notice, but subtly pulled his arm closer to the girl.

"Well," Rukia began. "It's a long story."

"One we don't really have time for." Ichigo added, blushing as he looked away from the trio in the pit. "So why don't we leave and talk later?"

Orihime pulled her lip in between her teeth, looking up through her eyelashes at Ulquiorra. They held a silent discussion with their eyes, quickly deciding something.

Orihime looked back up, a relieved smile painted over her face. "Yes! Please, lead the way!"

It was almost like those four and some odd years hadn't happened then, as they all reformed and started for the gates of Los Noches. Orihime was thinner and had wider hips, Ulquiorra had a child clinging to his back, Renji had a scar running just below the right corner of his lips, Ishida no longer wore a cape, Chad's hair had grown out, Grimmjow, Halibel, Stark, and Lillinette had on black uniforms, and Ichigo and Rukia had matching rings bouncing over their hearts, held from a chain as they ran. And then, of course, there was the additional member.

And yet, nothing had changed.


	3. Return

Thanks to the wonderful Avid-Vampire-Hunter, we can all enjoy this without pulling hair out because my grammar sucks. Thank you, Avid dear.

* * *

Orihime didn't cry very often anymore. She was a big girl- all grown up with her own little girl to take care of, but coming back to her home world…

Tears started to spill down her face as they came out of the darkness, her daughter blinking in the sudden light and raising up her paper-white hands to block out the light. The girl stumbled forward, still trying to get used to the light, but then slowly lowered her hands. Her mouth stretched up into a huge smile that reached her eyes, and then took a step forward. With a laugh of mirth she ran forward over the empty air, dancing above the town with delighted squeals.

"The sky! The sky, look mom! It's the sun and the clouds! And the sky!" She ran back to her mother, grabbing the older woman's hand and tugging her forward. "Look, look, look!"

Orihime, along with the audience of their rescuers, watched as her daughter twirled around, pointing at things. "What's that? What's that? What color is that? What is that, mom? What are those? Is that the color purple?! I love it! Is that a bird? What's that?"

"We'll talk later." Orihime sweetly told her daughter. "For now, why don't you go catch up with aunty Rukia."

She nodded frantically, letting go of her mother's hand and racing over to Rukia with wide eyes and a huge beaming smile. She grabbed the soul reaper's hand, pointing at everything she could see with pure delight.

Orihime hated to do it, but she turned her eyes away from her daughter and down to the shop way, way below them. Taking Ulquiorra's hand into her own, she swallowed.

"This will be interesting." She said, walking down through the air. She suddenly gasped, turning to Ulquiorra. "Do you think they still have my body here?!"

"It is likely."

Orihime squealed. "Yes! No more giant hips!"

"Onna, I am not so sure it works that way…"

She ignored his comment, practically skipping into the shop. She threw open the door and came face to face with Yoruichi.

"Orihime!" The woman cried in surprise.

"Hello!" She gave a little wave, blushing a bit at the attention. It was as if she had come into the classroom late. Only on a larger scale- she had suddenly come back from the dead.

She would have so much caching up to do… she had been gone just over four years… She could barely handle catching up to a week of school, how would she handle a year? Four years?! Really, it had been longer than that, four and a half years if she were to be precise, maybe a little longer. So much must have changed…

"You are staring off again." Ulquiorra told her quietly.

She blinked, finding that they had walked down into the dining room and stood before the table. Everyone was crowded into the room, but a place had been left open for her and the man at her side.

She sat down lightly, looking at the tea set in front of her. How long had it been since she had last had tea? The kitchen had eventually run out of food…

She picked up the glass and raised it to her lips, swallowing a warm gulp with relish. She had missed that. She had missed drinking tea, water, anything. It felt nice on her lips and in her dusty throat.

Ichigo was the first to speak, almost sounding betrayed. "Why didn't you come with us?" He asked the duo without missing a beat.

Orihime looked over at Ulquiorra from the corner of her eye. Then she looked back over at her childhood crush, licking her lips in preparation of speaking. She wouldn't ask him to elaborate- she knew just what he was asking. "Ulquiorra wasn't coming." She said quietly. "I couldn't leave him all by himself."

Ishida slammed his fist down on the table, causing her to jump. He was glaring hotly at Ulquiorra, eyes narrowed. "You made her stay with you?!" He seethed.

"No, no." Orihime waved her hands in front of her, smiling apologetically. "He… he didn't want to come. He thought I would go. And… well, I guess I surprised everyone when I suddenly turned around…"

"I'll say." Grimmjow drawled.

"So really," Orihime went on with a meek smile. "It was my fault."

Kisuke, seated at the head of the table, pushed back his hat a little to see her clearly. "No use in talking about it now." He said. "What's done is done."

She nodded timidly, and then went on. "How… how did you get us back?"

It was then that Grimmjow stood, feral grin in place. "Who the hell cares about that?! You had a kid! With bat-shit!"

"Way to breach the subject so lightly." Renji muttered.

Orihime lit up in red, looking down at her lap and twisting her fingers around each other. "U-uh yes. I guess you've all met Ayume." She squeaked. "She's pretty cute, huh?"

"I was fucking right." Grimmjow laughed. "You two were screwing all along!"

Orihime went even redder- Ishida, Renji, and Ichigo close behind her in their bright blushes.

"Yes." She said quietly. "We did… do that."

Ulquiorra glared up at Grimmjow. "Now that you have fulfilled your long time dream of being correct-" Grimmjow floundered- "might we move on?"

Tia laughed quietly with Stark, the both of them watching Grimmjow as he tried to recover.

Kisuke sighed. "Well, I won't get into specifics, but I built a machine that can shift between dimensions. It wouldn't have taken so long, but there was the whole problem of getting back…"

"It's fine." Orihime said with a smile, fingers brushing over her healed hand- she had been able to summon forth her powers as soon as she set foot in the world of the living. "You came just in time."

He nodded gravely. "Well, I suppose there's not much else we can do for you but give you back your body, Miss Inoue. And your gigai," He said to Ulquiorra, "I'll have a smaller one for Ayume by tonight."

She smiled and breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"Don't sweat it." Yoruichi said from where she lounged on the floor. "We'll get you paperwork, too. As far as anyone in this world knows that day you fell out of the window you got flown over sees to the best American hospital there was for major surgery. We'll just say you've finally come back and everything will be fine."

She nodded. "Oh… okay."

"We'll find the both of you diplomas." The tanned woman added. "And a birth certificate for your kitten. How old is she, by the way?"

Orihime hadn't started to count the days until her daughter had been born, but she had been careful to count them then. She wouldn't have any child of her own going without a birthday. "She'll be four in two months and…" She searched her mind. "Eight days."

"She's smart for her age." Tia commented.

Orihime turned to look at her, smiling. "Yeah, I blame him." She said with a laugh, pointing at Ulquiorra. "But she wants to be a cloud when she grows up, so I guess I've made a good impression on her, too!"

Everyone seemed to take the cue to stand from Kisuke, then, whom rose and headed toward the back of his shop. "I have your bodies back here." He said over his shoulder.

Ichigo came forward, smiling awkwardly. "Um, it's good to have you back!"

"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun." What could she say? Old habits died hard.

Ishida smiled at her lightly as he passed, stopping briefly. "I… I'm glad you're alright."

She smiled tenderly at her dear friend. "Thank you."

"See you around, Orihime."

"See ya!" She waved a little, watching as he walked past. All the while she drank in the world around her, still stunned by all the vivid hues there were around her.

"Yeah, it was… er, good to see you again." Renji said as he walked towards the exist. He suddenly stopped, pulling out his soul page and turning back to her. He quickly texted something and sent it, looking back up at Orihime with a nod. "There. I mean, I'm glad to see you and all, but there's someone else who will be a lot happier that you're here."

Orihime would have inquired as to whom he was referring to, but her elbow was tapped lightly by Yoruichi. She turned around and took the woman's signal to follow her, walking back into the store's storage area.

It was a bit disturbing to watch Kisuke pop open a fridge built into the wall and reach past various Soul Reaper products to grab onto a pink sleeve. He gave a tug and opened his arms, pulling Orihime's body out of the fridge and laying her down on the floor.

Orihime blinked.

"Now," the shopkeeper said as he stood. "You haven't been inside your body for a while. Your spirit and body have different shapes now," He tried not to look at her hips, "So your two forms will meet half way. Your body will get a little bigger- older looking. But you'll look like you got back two years."

Orihime nodded excitedly.

"Now, Mister Ulquiorra, your gigai will look just like you. No different than last time- you step in and it will copy your form without the bones." He pulled the plastic-like thing out of the fridge, too, handing it to the owner. He paused, then looked back inside.

"I designed this one for the lieutenant of eleventh division last time she was here-" He said, pulling out a tiny blank body with pink hair. He "Hmm"ed and then nodded. Looking back up, he said, "Give me an hour and I'll have a body for little Miss Ayume."

"Do you need to measure her or anything?" Orihime asked as she stepped down into her body.

Knowing that Orihime would take a while to grow into her own body again, the shopkeeper spoke to Ulquiorra. "Yes." He looked down at Orihime, then back up at Ulquiorra. "She'll be about for a while."

Ulquiorra nodded, easily slipping into his own gigai. He was a little surprised to find himself wearing the same clothes he had been at school that fateful day he had thrown himself out the window to go after her.

Leaning down he picked Orihime up off the floor, turning on his heel and walking out of the room and into the main part of the shop. He looked around for the cat woman, easily finding her sitting drinking what was left of Kisuke's tea.

"Shihoin Yoruichi." He addressed her, having an impeccable memory.

She turned. "Oh." She said simply. She stood and held out her arms. "Let me take care of her."

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes. It wasn't that he didn't trust the cat woman with one of the two people who actually meant something to him, it was that he didn't trust anyone. The only reason his daughter was with shinigami woman outside was because she was awake and fully capable of running away from danger and to him. Orihime, being unconscious, was not.

Yoruichi dropped her arms with a sigh. "Okay. Why don't you just keep holding her and I'll open the door for you, hm?"

He nodded once. "That would be acceptable."

He followed behind Yoruichi with Orihime in his arms, coming through the sliding doors sideways. He found his daughter out in front of the shop, chasing the shinigami woman and Stark's young girl. Some sort of game, he supposed.

"Ayume."

She immediately stopped in her spot, turning to face him. "Yes?"

"Come."

"Okay!"

Ulquiorra turned, going back inside with Ayume on his heals.

"What happened to Mommy?" She asked.

"She is getting used to her body."

"I see." The girl said happily, twirling once before continuing to walk behind Ulquiorra. "You look so handsome in your gigai, daddy." She giggled. "Are you and mommy going to a ball?"

"No."

She just happily nodded, marching along behind her father. He stepped over a mat placed before a table and she did the same, looking up at his back. She straitened her own and held her head high, stilling her smile, and marched. She was sure she looked just like he did- very serous.

They made it to the back room and Ulquiorra spoke to her, looking back at her only once to check to see if she was still right behind him. "The shopkeeper is going to look at your bones." He told her.

"Is he going to make me a body to live in?" She asked excitedly.

"He is."

"Hooray!" She threw her hands up in the air and spun in a circle before remembering she was trying to imitate her father.

Ulquiorra sat down with Orihime in his lap, watching his daughter as she stopped walking to stand by his side. She looked up at him and smiled, her teeth- normal in appearance but razor sharp.

Kisuke came back from his study and knelt down before her. "Well, hello there." He said with a smile.

She said nothing, instead just smiling.

"Would you mind-"

Before he even had a chance to finish his sentence the girl pulled her hair back to the top of her head, exposing tiny six-petal flowers of bone growing from the skin just behind her ears. It almost seemed to stem up from the pressure points just under her ears.

Kisuke leaned forward, looking at the bones but not touching. He nodded, jotting something down on his note pad. He looked back up at the girl and said, "Thank you, my dear."

She let her hair tumble back down around her head.

"Do you have a hollow hole?" He asked curiously, still writing on his notepad.

She nodded, pulling down the top of her white dress just barely to show a hole about the size of a penny pierced through her body just underneath the hollow of her throat.

"Very good." Kisuke said, standing. "I'll be able to cover that up in your gigai, too, if you'd like since it's so small."

The girl stuck out her bottom lip just barely. "Oh. Okay."

Urahara raised a single brow. "Do you want to keep it?"

She blushed a little. "Um, yes. You see, it's sort of like a pocket…" She reached in with two tiny fingers and pulled out a piece of candy. "See?"

"Did Yoruichi give that to you?" The man mused, turning and drawing on a board.

"Yes."

"Very cute. Okay, I'll keep that, but I'm adding a patch over it. Almost like a sticker or a band-aid."

Ayume didn't bother to tell him she didn't know what ether of those things were, instead just nodding. She would figure everything out later.

"Can you make my skin purple, please?"

The man stopped. He looked down at her. "Purple?"

She nodded.

Kisuke shot a quick glance back at Ulquiorra, just to see his reaction. The former espada just shook his head in a silent, "No."

"Sorry, but I can't." Kisuke gave a dramatic sigh.

"It's okay." For a second she was silent, watching as the scientist worked on something up on a table. "When will it be done?"

"In a little while. You can go out and play while you wait- Ururu will be getting home from school soon." He didn't look back at her, instead working carefully on the gigai he was fixing up.

She nodded, but when she turned she did not leave. She went over to her father's side and sat down in front of him, leaning back against his legs. She kept sneaking glances at him for a while, smiling to herself.

Ulquiorra, after the sixth giggle, asked, "What is it?"

"You look so funny without your helmet, daddy."

"Funny?"

"Different." She clarified. After a moment of silence she leaned forward, addressing Kisuke. "Will my marks go away?"

He looked over at her briefly before staring back down at his work. "No, I can't replace patches of skin." He glanced at her again. "I can't see your marks, so you should be fine."

She nodded, thought she put a hand on the back of her neck, where she knew another six petal flower was printed out in the same green as her father's tear streaks.

For a while she quietly sat, waiting.

At one point her mother woke up with a yawn, stretching her arms up over her head.

Orihime curled her fingers and toes, coughing a little, and then rubbed her eyes. "How long was I asleep?" She asked as she forced away another yawn.

"Almost half an hour." Ulquiorra told her.

She nodded, going to pull down the hem of her pink shirt- which had ridden up when she had stretched. She found then that the shirt no longer fit, as her breasts had grown too big for the shirt to fit anymore. She frowned, feeling her hips.

"Well, I think I went down a pant size." She said in satisfaction. She didn't care all that much anyway, despite how often she mentioned it. She looked down at her exposed belly, about to try to pull the shirt down again, and broke out into a huge smile. "My stretch marks are gone!" She cried out in happiness.

Who knew that popping back into her body after so long would be so beneficial? She almost felt like crying she was so elated. It was a simple stroke of luck- one that she hadn't expected.

She looked down at her daughter, then, who looked like she was waiting for something. Looking back up at Ulquiorra she gave him a questioning look.

"Kisuke Urahara is preparing her gigai." He informed her.

She blinked. "Oh." Then smiled. "Fun!"

At the same time Kisuke turned around, holding a small clear plastic sheet in the shape of a body. "Two feet, eight inches," he said, holding it out to the girl. "It's all yours."

With a happy yelp she jumped up, accepting it into her arms. "Thank you!" She said, stepping right inside. She shook her head, her curls bouncing over her shoulders, and looked down at the little pink dress she was wearing.

"Don't thank me." He said with a large smile. "I don't work for free!"

Orihime's smile dropped.

Kisuke laughed, flashing out his fan. "Soul Society covers the costs of gigai repairs for those working in the field." He pointed the fan at Orihime. "Thank you for securing Los Noches in the void between worlds, Miss Inoue, I hope that these repairs will cover everything."

Orihime smiled. "Thank you." She said, shakily standing up. She pulled at the hem of her shirt again, trying to hide her belly. Ulquiorra stood swiftly behind her, holding onto her elbow when she took another odd step forward.

The woman stilled, seeming to come to a sudden realization. "Oh. We don't have a place to stay…"

Having soundlessly come into the room, Yoruichi said, "Well, I have several ideas for you. There's an apartment complex not far from your old one we can start at."

Orihime nodded. "Um… all my stuff…"

The woman pointed at the closet. "We used some of it, I hope you don't mind." Orihime walked over to the closet, opening it and smiling when she saw all her stuff. "I mean, sometime people just need to borrow clothes. They're all washed now, though."

Orihime smiled. "Oh, that's fine!"

"Well, then, I guess we'll get going."

* * *

Third chapter is up! (obviously...) I hope everyone is enjoying so far. Thank you all so much for the lovely reviews- I'm sorry if I didn't get around to replying, I've been busy. So, see you all next Saturday?


	4. Friendships

Chapter four! I'm off to Idaho for the week, I'm going to this awesome writer's camp called Writers Harrimen. It sounds like it's going to be a blast! Anyway, thank you all for the amazing reviews so far, I can't wait to hear from you all again this chapter, even if it is a little OOC.

This chapter has a warning on it because I'm becoming paranoid. Mentions of *whispers* Doing the do.

* * *

Ulquiorra was not very helpful when it came to finding an apartment.

He didn't care about the view or the design or the color of paint. He didn't care about the neighborhood or how close by the bus stop was. The only thing he cared about was staying within a reasonable price for rent.

It was up to Orihime.

She found some blue and some tan, some with good neighborhoods and some near bus stops. She even found one that was close to the Kuroaski clinic. And yet, none of them felt like the right one. Ayume loved every last one- that much was clear as she went twirling around the place with arms spread out.

She continued to ask about everything and anything she came across. She seemed to be in love with the vivid coloring of everything, though she did at one point in the day admit it was making her eyes hurt. Orihime didn't blame her- she was feeling the same way.

"And this one," Yoruichi said as they came to another apartment, "Is the one I actually have picked out for you if you want it."

"Um, Yoruichi-san, are you sure you're allowed to be in here?" She asked for the second time that day. She was pretty sure that flash stepping into the room and opening it up from the inside wasn't exactly the way apartment tours went.

"Of course." The woman said, waving away the concern.

Orihime was about to question her further, but stopped. She looked around the apartment.

The walls were a light shade of tan, a couch in the room colored light green against the wall. There was a TV across from the couch, flanked by two tall skinny bookshelves. To the right was a square kitchen with a small table in the middle, and then between the two 'rooms' was a hall so that the open area was shaped like an up-side down T. The room behind the living space was a bedroom much bigger than the other, which shared a space with the kitchen. The walls were a light crème color, the large bed topped with white, black, and light blue blankets and sheets. It didn't have an attached bathroom, but the one at the end of the hall had two sinks and was rather large.

The second, smaller bedroom had light blue walls and a single bed. It was topped with a light pink comforter.

"I was thinking you could use this room for storage or something." Yoruichi was saying. "But it turns out that everything works perfectly." She went on, saying something about how the reason it was so cheep was because the bathroom ceiling leaked water in the winter because the pipes would freeze over.

They could figure that problem out when they came to it…

"I love it." She said with a wide smile. "This is the one."

"Yay!" Ayume ran to the smaller bedroom, laughing, jumping up and down with her arms in the air. "We have a living place!"

Orihime looked back at Ulquiorra, a huge smile in place. "What do you think?"

He looked around a bit, considering. After a moment he nodded. "It is acceptable."

Mimicking his tone Ayume stood up straight and said, "It is wonderful."

Orihime laughed, reaching down and smoothing out the girl's hair with a smile.

"Well that's good," Yoruichi said with a smirk. "Since I already bought it."

"O-oh." While it was nice to know that the woman knew her so well, it was a little disturbing to see that she was still so impulsive. "Thanks?"

"If you already purchased this one," Ulquiorra bit out through clenched teeth, "Then what was the purpose of visiting all the of other homes?"

"So that we'd have enough time to move all your stuff here."

Orihime blinked. "What?"

The door to the porch suddenly flew open, Tessai marching in with two huge trunks under his arms. Jinta came in dragging another one, Ururu easily holding one up over her head as she trooped in behind him.

Urahara entered last, dresses draped over open arms. "Well, glad to see you all made it here in one piece." He said. He walked up to Orihime and offered her the dresses, which she happily accepted into her own arms.

"Well, I'd say that's just about everything."

"You sure had a lot of stuff." Jinta grumbled.

Tessai swiftly picked him up by the back of the shirt, smiling at Inoue. "You'll find everything form your old apartment here." He said from underneath his large mustache.

"Th-thank you." Orihime said, still surprised.

"Now remember, you'll all have to find jobs soon!" Kisuke said as soon as Yoruichi came to stand beside him. They started to back out of the apartment. "We only bought the place, the rest is up to you."

And just like that, they were gone.

Orihime blinked.

"Well…" She turned back to the two left in the room. "Um, I guess we have some unpacking to do?"

She could tell then, watching them nod, that they were going to be very happy there. Even Ulquiorra, who had despised living in the human world, would be happy. They all would be.

And finally, _finally_, they would be living.

(~)

Unpacking was not supposed to be fun. It was a long, tedious task riddled with dust bunnies and the confusion of where things were supposed to go. Not to mention all the time spent just trying to figure things out.

But it was still tons of fun for Orihime.

Orihime watched Ayume squeeze the woman's pink bear to her chest, promising to take care of it since Sora had given it to Orihime when she was young. Orihime was delighted to find that some of the clothes Sora had put into storage bins fit her younger daughter, as they only had one outfit for her before they had opened up the trunks of Orihime's stuff.

They didn't have very much to move in. Sora's old clothing fit Ulquiorra, and so they would use that, and most of Orihime's old clothing fit her... besides the shirts, which rode up to show of her stomach. She just had to rely on dresses for the time being. Besides the clothing they moved in dishes, photographs, stuffed animals, books, a couple of movies, and then other little things that Orihime had possessed.

When they were done it was getting close to dinner time, and Orihime realized that despite all Kisuke and Yoruichi had done they really were at a rough place to start. They had no food to eat, and while they were used to that and were usually able to absorb the spiritual pressure in the air by sleeping for days on end or finding spiritual canisters full of the mixture that Espada ate in the place of souls the same thing wouldn't work for gigais and human bodies.

Orihime was just standing up in a dress that fit her, out of her old school uniform, and putting away a tote when there was a knock at the door.

At first she had thought that maybe it was the neighbors coming to say hello and welcome, but opening the door she felt her eyes go wide.

Hands on her hips, scowl tugged to the side. Navy blue-black hair choppily cut at her mid-back, dark green pants and a dark red top…

She looked pretty pissed.

"Tatsuki?!"

"YOU DIDN'T CALL ME FIRST THING YOU GOT BACK!?" She roared, leaning forward.

Orihime floundered, pushing her index fingers together nervously. "Well, you see, I-" She was cut off by Tatsuki grabbing her and pulling her in for a hug- something that tomboy rarely did. She felt herself smile happily and return the hug with as much- possibly more- vigor than her fiend. "I missed you!"

"You better have," Tatsuki said as she drew back. "Four years? _Yeesh_, way to give me the heads up."

Orihime laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Yeah, sorry about that…"

"Man, last time I saw you, you were disappearing into a hole in space outside your own body." She said with a laugh, but then suddenly stopped. "But really, I had to hear about you coming back from _Renji_?! I mean, give me a break!"

Orihime laughed again, smiling wide. "I'm sorry! We haven't really had a chance to settle down yet."

"We?" Tatsuki cocked her head to the side. "Is Cifer still with you?"

Blushing lightly, Orihime stepped back. "Um, why don't you come inside?"

"Okay, sure, but if he's here I'm going to give him one hell of a-" The karate master stopped short, frozen, staring. Her eyes wide as dinner plates, her mouth just barely fell open.

Ayume stared up at her, little head titled to the side, her eyes full of wonder. Slowly a smile spread up over the girls face as she linked and unlinked her hands behind her back. "You're aunty Tatsuki."

Tatsuki was still. Then, slowly, she seemed to melt. "Is… Is she…?"

Orihime nervously laughed. "Well, um, yep!"

Tatsuki crouched down, still completely shocked. "Wow." Was all she said.

Ayume licked her lips, awaiting a reaction, lightly rocking back and forth on her feet.

Tatsuki offered out a hand. "Hey kid." She said happily, but softly. "What's your name?"

Ayume looked down at the hand, confused. "Ayume."

Behind Tatsuki, Orihime mouthed, 'Shake it.'

Taking the cue from her mother, the girl reached out and lightly took a hold of Tatsuki's hand, giving it a small shake. "I am Ayume." She said again, not really sure what to do.

"And I'm Tatsuki." The woman replied with a big grin. She suddenly turned to Orihime, still squatted down to Ayume's level, and said, "You better make me the godmother."

Orihime burst out laughing, nodding her head frantically. "Check! One Tatsuki Arisawa as godmother!"

"You have pretty eyes." Ayume said conversationally.

"So do you."

"Also you don't look like trash." She nodded. "Which is good."

Tatsuki grinned. "Glad to hear it."

The little girl then looked back and forth before leaning in to whisper in Tatsuki's ear. "Did you really punch Daddy?" She asked excitedly.

"Ha! Sure did!"

The girl smiled mischievously. "You're brave."

"Not as brave as your mom."

"No one's braver than Mommy!"

Tatsuki's grin stretched wider. "Not even Ichigo?"

"Kurosaki-kun?" She shook her head. "No, he just blushes a lot."

Tatsuki fell back laughing, nodding her head. "I love your kid!" She cried, looking back up at Orihime. "And hey…" She looked back at Ayume. "She looks an awful lot like Cifer…" Standing, she brushed herself off, looking down at Ayume with a smile. "Why don't you go find your dad? Me and your _mom_-" She gave Orihime a look, "Have a lot to talk about."

"Okay." Without hesitation the girl ran back to the master bedroom, quietly closing the door behind her.

Tatsuki turned to Orihime as soon as the door closed, an evil gleam in her eyes. "So…?" She trailed off, then looked over her shoulder at the bedroom. "He's here, huh?"

Orihime nodded nervously, a small bead of sweat rolling down her neck.

"And you… and him…" Orihime felt herself grow more apprehensive with every word Tatsuki let spill from her lips. "You two-"

Orihime launched forward, clamping her hand over her friend's mouth. "_Sshhh!_" She said, turning bright red. "They'll hear us!" Quickly she ran to the front door, tugging Tatsuki along with her, and then out onto the porch where she felt they could talk without anyone hearing.

She hoped, anyway.

Tatsuki, free once more, laughed again, sagging back against the door. "Oh wow. It's been so long! It's hard to imagine you two having sex."

Orihime, upon hearing the word, went even redder. "Ahh!" She shook her head and covered her face. "Don't say that!"

"Why?" Her friend went on in a teasing voice. "You did!"

"It's embarrassing to talk about." Orihime mumbled through her hands.

After a tiny silence, Tatsuki scooted over to sit with her friend against the railing of the porch. "So." She said. "How was it?"

Still red with humiliation, Orihime peaked up from between her fingers. She looked left and right, leaning around Tatsuki, and when she saw the coast was clear leaned back against the railing. Quickly she muttered, "Amazing."

Tatsuki smirked. "Oh…?"

Orihime stiffly nodded, looking at her friend form the corner of her eye.

"No need to be so embarrassed about it, Orihime! We're big girls now." Tatsuki laughed. "Hey, just last night Renji and I-"

Orihime's eyes went wide. "You and RENJI!?"

Tatsuki blinked. "Oh… Yeah. I guess it has been a while." She held up her wrist, which had a tattoo of a black dragon on it. "I've got my own powers now." She said. "I mean, all I can do is destroy stuff, kinda like Chad. But the people in Soul Society that know me call me the 'Black Dragon.' I kind of like it, you know?"

Orihime nodded, looking at the tattoo. "Oh. And you and Renji…?"

Tatsuki leaned back against the railing. "He's a bit awkward on dates and stuff, and also kind of stupid sometimes, but I guess I love the big guy. It was really weird at first since he was in love with Rukia, but we got together a couple of months after Ichigo and her got engaged."

Orihime found her eyes wide again. "Engaged?!"

"Yeah. They have been for almost three years now."

"What? Why haven't they gotten married yet then?"

"It's always something. Rukia wants a winter wedding but he wants a summer wedding. She wants this many people to be invited and he wants two to be invited. She wants strawberry cake and he wants peach-"

"Do they really fight that bad now?" Orihime asked worriedly.

"Huh?" Tatsuki blinked. "Oh, no! They don't get into huge fights about it! They can just never decide and they're both so stubborn. So figuring one thing out takes them months. And then just as they move on they come to another problem. Honestly, it will be a miracle if they ever actually get married."

Orihime giggled. "Sounds like them all right…"

"Yeah. If you ask me what they need is a wedding planner. But every time someone suggests that, they both say the same thing." She changed her voice to crappy high-pitched imitations of the two. "No! We'll do it ourselves! We don't need a wedding planner!"

Orihime full-out laughed, throwing her head back.

"And I mean, it's the one thing they can agree on, you know?" Tatsuki shook her head, still smiling. "Maybe now that you're back they'll finally get on it. I sort of feel like they were almost stalling and waiting for you to get back."

"You think so?"

"I don't know. With those two you can never really tell."

Orihime breathed out through her mouth in amusement. "Yeah."

"Anyway," Tatsuki turned to Orihime again. "You have a kid!"

"Yep."

"How old is she?"

"Three."

"Wow… she acts so old."

Orihime smiled. "You're the second one to tell me that."

"Think she gets it from him?"

"Ulquiorra?" She smiled wider. "No doubt about it!"

The two laughed.

Tatsuki smirked again, heading back to where the conversation had started. "Now that you're not looking like a tomato…" She leaned in and whispered, just like she had used to when they were younger. "On a scale of one to ten- how good is he in bed? Ten being a sex god and one being, well, a one."

Orihime lightly blushed, though not nearly as bad as before. "Mmm…" She mumbled something that Tatsuki couldn't make out.

"Eh? What was that?"

"Um, I think maybe he's a mmm…"

"Couldn't hear you Hime."

She sighed. Then, quietly, "Eleven?"

Tatsuki's smile returned at full blast. "No!"

She bashfully nodded her head.

"Orihime, you lucky woman!"

Still looking like she had severe sunburn, she turned to the martial artist. "W-Well w-what about you?" She managed.

She considered it. "Hmm… I give him a nine."

Orihime blinked. "I thought you said Renji was awkward?"

She chuckled darkly. "Have you ever seen him when he takes his hair down?"

Orihime shook her head.

She laughed again. "Oh… he's a nine all right."

Orihime licked her lips nervously. "Wh-What about his hair…?"

"Well, first of all, he looks incredibly sexy. And second of all, when he stops looking like a pineapple he gets very, very serous." She thought for a second. "I think it comes from fighting. He knows if he's fought hard enough to get his hair falling out, it's time to up it a notch. But hell, I don't care where he gets it so long as he doesn't lose it."

Despite herself, Orihime found herself lightly laughing. "Wow."

Nodding, Tatsuki laughed a little, too. "Yep. What about you, though?"

She felt herself go red again. "Oh. Well, um, it's not like he's ever really not... concentrated… um…"

"No, don't compare. This is just for fun- we're not writing out charts on our love lives. Just say what you like and what he's good at and stuff like that."

She nodded woodenly. "Uh, oh, okay. Well…" She thought, and then smiled to herself. "It's his eyes…" She trailed off.

"Oh?" Now Tatsuki looked really interested.

"Yeah." She said, playing with her hands. "They get so intense. He… just, the way he looks at me." She blushed brighter. "It makes me feel like I could melt right into the floor."

"Go on." Tatsuki prompted.

Finding it easier to talk as she went along, she did. "They just get so dark. He does this thing… normally he likes to give side-glances instead of looking at someone. But… when he's like that… he won't look away from me at all."

Tatsuki smirked. "I see."

"And his voice!" She said, really getting into the conversation. "It's like it gets a whole octave lower. I can practically feel him touching my skin when he just speaks."

Tatsuki slowly nodded. "Oh, yeah. Definitely an eleven." She smirked. "Renji does the bedroom eyes thing, too. But not as well as your man unless your over-romanticizing it."

Orihime shook her head softly, thinking to herself that her description didn't really do him justice. "The way he enters the room, too. I-"

_Fwoosh._

Ulquiorra stepped out onto the porch, tall, eyes narrowed. "Onna."

Both Orihime and Tatsuki fell back laughing at the same time- Orihime actually falling down on the ground and gasping for air despite how heavily she blushed.

Ulquiorra blinked in confusion. "… Is there something I have failed to notice?"

Tatsuki waved him off, clutching her sides. "N-no!" She snickered. "No-o-oth-thin-ing!"

He frowned, annoyed. "You are not making any sense."

Sitting up, Orihime wiped the tears from her eyes. "S-Sorry Ulquiorra! Um, what is it you needed?" She stifled another giggle.

He blinked again. "We do not have any food."

Tatsuki sat up, still smiling wide. "No problem. I was just on my way to meet Renji at this restaurant," She looked over at Orhime. "It's not very new, but it's new to you. Do you want to come?"

"Oh, we-"

"My treat!" Tatsuki cut her off.

Orihime thought about it. While she didn't want to take advantage of Tatsuki, she also wanted to have her family fed for the night… She would order water to drink. "Count us in then. Can we walk there?"

"Yep." Hopping to her feet the karate master reached down her hand in offering, pulling Orihime up to her feet. "They have the best Italian food there."

With a nod Orihime walked back into the house. "Let me just get out some shoes… And then we can all go!"

* * *

Edited by the wondrous Avid Vampire Hunter. Let it be known she is a saint.


	5. Pizza

Edited by the incredibly glamourous Avid Vampire Hunter. Be in awe of her mad skills.

I'm so sorry it's been so long! (I had a blast in Idaho, by the way, even though that was FOREVER ago... Eh, I've just been really... eh. Yeah.) ANYWAY! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, I think, THINK, that I may be back to regular updating. Dunno. So, here it is! I hope to hear from everyone on what they think of this. I will soon check messages, probably tomorrow. Thanks!

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Ulquiorra didn't really understand why the woman was so excited. As they walked down the street she held the left hand of their daughter while he held the right, and she couldn't seem to stop talking to even breathe. Ayume listened on and nodded, her eyes wide, her smile full of sunshine.

Orihime pointed out everything and anything there was to see, as if trying to make up for those three years of their daughter not seeing anything. She went so far as to point out simple things like cracks in the sidewalks and spray paint on the sides of buildings because to the woman it all _mattered._

It was both endearing and slightly annoying- annoying only because he felt like she was being redundant. So what if the glass pain of the shop had been cracked from a rock? What did it matter? They could all see it with their own eyes.

But while it would have been extremely obnoxious had it been anyone else, for her to prattle on about it all made him fight back a small smile. His brain was telling him to be annoyed and his heart was telling him it was something he was found of.

The woman's friend- Tatsuki, he believed- was biting back smiles at every turn. He sometimes stared at her, wondering what was wrong with her. She would catch his gaze every now and then and give him a sneering glare or a knowing look like she had some kind of information about him that he had not meant to give her. Both looks were equally bothersome, but nether were enough cause for a reaction.

"Wow!" Ayume squealed for what may have been the fifth time in a row. She broke her grip on his hand to point into a shop window. "Oh, I like that so much!" She cheered. Turning her eyes back up to him she asked, "Can we go get it?"

"Not everything in this world is your own." He informed her.

She blinked, turning her head as she slipped his hand back into her own. "It's not?" She took a second to consider the possibility and then nodded. "Oh, okay!"

The kept walking, the little girl occasionally pointing at things and asking if they were her own. She took the news rather well, learning that she owned nothing but the clothes on her back. She just nodded thoughtfully, pursing her lips a little.

They got to the restaurant- Julies' Pizza- and it was then that they came inside of the place to find a nervous Renji standing by the door. He looked up and smirked at Tatsuki when they drew nearer, catching sight of her company only a moment later.

"Oh, you brought Inoue… And Cifer…" He said, a little put off. But then he put on this big monkey grin. "And Ayume!" He said with a happy nod. "Let's go eat!"

Tatsuki attached herself to the man's arm, walking in with him and briefly talking to him about who was going to pay. He didn't seem too put out to have her paying, in all honesty, he looked a little relived.

Orihime would later inform Ulquiorra that it was because working for Urahara didn't make a whole lot of money, unlike Tatsuki's job of teaching martial arts and competing in championships.

They came inside of the restaurant, Ayume excitedly rocking back and forth on her feet. She was looking all around with huge excited eyes, appearing absolutely dazzled by everything around her.

They walked back to a table, following Renji and Tatsuki, and all sat down. A waiter came and asked if Ayume would like a booster seat, and the girl happily said that she would.

The table was circle-shaped, Ayume sat between Tatsuki and Orihime, Ulquiorra between Orihime and Renji, and Renji and Tatsuki side by side.

Orihime leaned over with an open menu, though their daughter couldn't really read very well, and pointed out different things to eat. The girl decided she would just have whatever everyone else was having, and a short while later the group had decided to just order one big pizza.

Renji and Tatsuki both got something a dark brown color, bubbling with fizz, to drink. Ulquiorra himself had water, just as the rest of his family.

_Family…_ He thought to himself. _What an odd concept._

One didn't grow accustomed to having a family overnight after so many solitary years in the endless desert sands of Hueco Mundo. He had been the father of a child for three years, and the concept was still just the slightest bit alien.

He was quiet as Orihime avidly conversed with Tatsuki, Renji sometimes joining in on the conversation. She laughed and nodded often, eyes going wide with surprise at other times. She had missed a lot, and her best friend was eager to fill everything in for her. Ayume, too, giggled at some of the stories, though she often didn't know what was going on.

"Mizurio owns his own company now," Tatsuki said with a wide grin. "and he's always got a new girlfriend with him- sometimes more than one. He's not living on the shabby side of life, that's for sure."

Orihime hadn't been surprised.

"And Keigo!" Tatsuki went on. "He works at a place that sells video games. I think video games are actually the only thing he's good at…" Tatsuki paused for Orihime's delighted laugh. "He had a girlfriend, too, for a while. Well, a couple of weeks. But she dumped him pretty fast for being too clingy."

"Aw, poor Keigo!" Orihime giggled.

"What else…" Tatsuki trailed off, still lightly smiling, trying to remember anything else she might inform Orihime of. "Oh!" She suddenly said, smacking a fist down into her open palm. "Ichigo's little sister, Yuzu. She and that Jinta kid are going out. Oh, you should have seen Ichigo! He looked like he was ready to kill the kid when he showed up to pick Yuzu up for their date!"

Orihime laughed again. "Oh no! What happened?" She asked through her smile.

"Rukia grabbed him and pulled him back into the house, told them to have a good time, and they were on their way. He got out a lot as she did, though. Jinta took him seriously and had Yuzu back before nine, that's for sure…"

Ulquiorra looked away from Orihime's smiling face and up to another presence entering the immediate vicinity. He found the same waiter who had taken their order holding up a huge circle of food over his head, heading directly towards their table.

"One pizza, folks." He said, leaning in between Ulquiorra and Orihime to place it in the middle of the table.

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes dangerously at the man when he drew away, the stranger's gaze was lingering just a little too long on Orihime's chest. The man quickly looked away from her, though, unknowingly saving his own hide, and asked politely if "That will be all for you?"

"Yeah, that's it." Renji told him. "Thanks."

The man gave a short nod and walked away, hopefully to never return if one were to ask Ulquiorra.

"Ah!" Ayume cried in wonder. "Wow! It looks so good!"

"And it tastes just as great," Tatsuki replied with a smirk. Leaning forward she cut into the pizza, scooping up a big piece with cheese oozing over the sides and slipping it onto a plate that she passed to Orihime. "American food is awesome. Though I guess this was Italian first. I don't really know, those guys claim pretty much everything."

Ayume didn't reply- she was too busy sinking her teeth down into the pizza that her mother had passed her. "Mmm…" She looked up at her father, smiling lightly with a small string of cheese dangling from her bottom lip. "You want some?"

He looked down at her little hands, both holding up the large slice of pizza. He hurriedly fought back the desire to smile, looking up at Orihime as he replied. "I will get my own, thank you."

She nodded happily, mouth accepting another huge chunk of her dinner.

Renji passed him a plate, not looking at him, and then Ulquiorra was left to stare at the food. How was he supposed to eat it? Using his hands like his infant daughter?

A glance around the table showed that she wasn't the only one…

Even the Woman had her hands up to her mouth, lips closed around the tip of the pizza as she practically beamed her happiness in tangible rays. They had been given odd utensils, though, a fork and knife if he remembered correctly. Could he use those?

"Oi, Cifer."

He looked up.

"You just pick it up- don't use the silverware." Tatsuki said.

He frowned and did not reply.

He looked back down at the pizza, frown deepening. It was a mess, melted all over his plate. But it looked like everyone else was enjoying it, so without further hesitation he picked it up with bare hands and took a bight out of it.

He was pleasantly surprised by the taste- it wasn't entirely foreign, the tomato was something he was familiar with, and the meat on top was nothing new to him. He liked the cheese and crust, and everything together was… excellent, honestly.

He quickly took another bite.

"Anyway, you're all living over on the south side of town, right?" Renji asked.

Orihime nodded enthusiastically, looking up from where she had been making a face on her pizza with mustard. "Yep! The apartment is really nice, too!"

He nodded, looking a little unsure on how to continue the conversation from there.

"Where do you think you're going to start going to work now, Orihime?"

She seemed to pause, Ulquiorra noticed. "I… I don't know! Me and Ulquiorra haven't really thought about it…" She paused, her lips pursed in thought. "Hm… I guess I'll see if there's a position open at the bakery."

"They'll be glad to have you back."

"As for Ulquiorra…" She looked over at him, a small smile blooming over her features. "Well, something that doesn't really involve people skills."

He sent her a dry look, to which she only giggled.

"Yeah, good idea." Tatsuki agreed, giving him another look. What was her deal? She kept looking at him like she knew something. Her eyes alone were silently gloating, and it was really starting to agitate him.

They kept up the idle chit-chat for a while, Ayume too focused on her pizza to say much of anything, Ulquiorra not inclined to. When the little girl started to blink heavy eyelids, her little head drooping, he decided it was time to leave.

"Onna," He started.

He didn't have to say anything more, she had noticed it too. "Oh, are you sleepy, baby?" The woman cooed to the child beside her.

She nodded, her head seeming heavier.

"I don't blame her," Tatsuki said. "You've all had a long day."

Ulquiorra saw his chance and quickly stood, neatly tucking in his chair as he placed his napkin over his empty plate. "We shall be departing, then."

With a happy nod Orihime stood, tucking in her own chair. "It's been really fun, Tatsuki. I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Definitely."

They started to scheme, then, already planning the activities of the next day, but Ulquiorra didn't really pay them any heed. He had noticed his daughter reaching up for him and picked her up, allowing her head to drop down on his shoulder as she closed her eyes and curled her tiny fists in the material of his jacket.

Orihime tugged on his elbow, signaling that she was officially ready to leave. He held Ayume up with one arm and dropped his other one to allow his fingers to twine with Orihime's. She gave Tatsuki and Renji a little wave, and then they were out in the cool night air again.

For a time they walked in comfortable silence, not saying anything as Ayume slipped in and out of sleep.

"That was fun." Orihime said once they walked through a cross walk.

He nodded once.

"It was good to see Tatsuki again. And Abari-san." She nodded to herself, her lips pursed again. He wished she would stop doing that- they looked like they were just _begging_ to be ravished when she presented them like that.

"Indeed."

She laughed lightly, looking up at him with a smile so wide she had her eyes squinted under the force. "It's so nice to be back. I've missed this. All of this… the lights, the colors, the sounds… and the people."

"Hm."

She stopped, forcing him to stop with her, smile absent. "Ulquiorra…"

He looked down at her, suddenly confused. "Yes?"

"Please don't do that." She sighed out.

"Do what, Onna?"

"That." She said, starting to walk again. "I want you to talk to me like you did in Los Noches. You call me Orihime when we're alone, don't you? I like it when you do that… And I want to hear what you think about things, too. I mean, I love you no matter how you are or what you say or don't say, but I really do like hearing what you're thinking. I don't want to go back to talking to you when you don't have anything to say."

He considered what she had said for a moment. "I apologize, Orihime." He said after his brief moment of thought. "I am feeling… overwhelmed."

She blinked, owlish eyes a little wide. "Oh!" She suddenly smiled. "Okay, I get it, I'm sorry, I just thought that maybe you thought that since we're back it had to go back to the way things were way back when and I didn't want them to do that if that's what you were thinking but-"

"Onna."

She stopped. "Hm?"

"You are babbling."

"Oh, right!" She licked her lips and then smiled, skipping ahead for a moment. "Come on, Ulquiorra-kun!" She called out with a giggle. "We've got to get Ayume to bed!"

_And then ourselves._ He added to himself. "I was already going."

"Well hurry up, will you?"

"You are eager."

"Of course I am, silly! It's been a long day and I'm tired."

_Damn_. "Of course."

"I'll lead the way- you just follow me!"

He resisted the urge to sigh. "As you wish."


	6. Morning

This is the EXTREMELY unedited version. I, however, ran out of time. I barely got this all written out as it was. Hopefully I'll be a little more prompt next update. Anyway, something's up with fanfiction and it's not sending me emails to let me know when I'm getting reviews, PMs, favorites, follows... the works. I only found out a little while ago because I was just so baffled as to why I wasn't getting any reviews for this story. Anyway, I hope to hear form everyone anyway. Enjoy this chapter, though I will be the first to admit it's OOC. Sorry. Eh, enjoy anyway!

* * *

Soi Fon rolled over in bed, yawning. She had an awful headache, it was pulsing in the back of her head like a drum. She stretched, arching her body like a cat, trying to clear the throbbing in her skull. She had used to get headaches all the time, waking up. It was an unfortunate side affect of being the captain of squad two- she was up and running around, fighting, and doing paperwork all hours of the day. It didn't do well on her muscles, especially the ones in her neck, and when they were tensed up she got headaches.

"Grimmjow." She groaned, feeling for the man in the side of the bed. When her hand met empty air she pushed herself up in confusion, untamed hair flying around her face in a mane of static.

It was then she realized the reason for her headache- Grimmjow hadn't been there for two nights. Two nights of no massages. Oh, yes, she could order someone else to do it, but no one really seemed to get that despite the fact she was a girl she liked having her knots worked out with a lot of force. People were always so gentle… they only ever scratched the surface of her neck problem. Grimmjow, however, was a man who knew how to dig in.

With another groan Soi Fon slipped out of bed, eyes narrowed into slits. It wasn't that she wasn't a morning person, she was fine getting up early, it was just that she was easily irritated before noon. Add that to a sleepless night, a headache, and-

She narrowly avoided tripping over a pair of clothes. "He left his dirty laundry on the ground." She hissed.

Soi Fon, needless to say, was pissed.

A shower with the temperature hot as hell, though still colder than her boiling anger, relaxed her a bit. She combed out her hair and got dressed, brushed her teeth and signed a couple of papers over a leftover steak for breakfast. She was starting to cool down a little when…

_Knock, knock, knock._

"Enter." She barked.

Omiayida stumbled into her quarters, crumbs tumbling from his great chin onto her carpet. Great. Something _else_ she would have to clean up, only this time she didn't have any benefits from the mess-maker.

Her eyes narrowed.

"C-Captain!"

"What is it, third seat?" She had to admit, she really did like the sound of that. She honestly didn't hate her used-to-be lieutenant, she had a bit of a soft spot for him she would never admit to, but if there was one person who knew how to get on her nerves, it was him. Not having him on her elbow all hours of the day was a wonder for her level of patience.

"Lieutenant Jaggerjauqez has returned from the world of the living along with Squad 8's Captain Coyote, Lieutenant Hallibel, and third seat Lillinete, have returned."

"… And?"

"They are requesting your presence."

She resisted the urge to sigh. Just what had Grimmjow gone and done now? "I swear," She growled as the brushed past her former second in command, "If he somehow destroyed Kurosaki Ichigo's house again I am going to main him."

She stalked down the barracks, people parting before like the red sea before Moses, some with fear and some with plain knowing looks painted over their features. _He's pissed her off again,_ those faces said, _he's really in for it this time._

And oh was he.

She didn't have to ask where Grimmjow and the others would be, she already knew they would be waiting outside the sikiamon, probably prepared to step back down into the world of the living to right the wrongs Grimmjow had created. Again.

She rounded the corner, her eyes narrow slits, hands balled up at her sides.

She came face to face with Grimmjow, then, and felt all her anger vanish in a cloud of steam. He wasn't standing with a cocky grin on his face and his arms crossed as if to say, _Whacha' gonna do about it?_ No. He was… excited?

"We found them." He stated, grin starting to spread over his face. He crossed his arms, and oh, _now_ he was smug. "They're alright."

Over to the side was captain Hitsugia and squad five's Momo Hinumori. They looked relieved as well, Momo actually expressing it while Toshiro pushed forth his frosty exterior. Then over to the side was one Matsumoto Rangiku, jumping up and down with her enourmous chest heaving in apparent excitement.

"Well." Soi Fon allowed with crossed arms. "Good."

"Wanna go see 'em?" He practically purred the words, the smug bastard.

"No."

His grin fell, put-off confusion flittering over his face. "What? Why the hell not?"  
"Because that would be pointless, Grimmjow. Unlike you, I take my duties seriously." Soi Fon loved the guy, sure, but that wasn't going to stop her from verbally beating on him. Or physically. Ether way, he could handle it.

"What?! Ah, come on! Bat shit and the princess had a brat!"

She blinked. So Orihime had… a child? "What?"

"Yeah! Girl. Looks like a midget version of the two."

From over her shoulder, Halibel calmly said, "Don't call her a midget, Grimmjow. She's tall for her age." The woman paused. "I think."

"I think she's super cute!" Lillinette whined loudly. "Don't be so mean, Grimmjow!"

"E-eh? Why are you all yelling at me?!"

Soi Fon blocked out the yelling then as it boiled down to a pointless screaming match between her partner and Stark's kid. So Orihime and the former fourth espada had reproduced? Was that even _possible_? Hollows were beings of death, not life and recreation… It was hard enough for shinigami to have children, how the hell did two hollow beings create a pregnancy? Then again, Orihime was a being of rejection. She could warp the reality of so many things, her having a kid really wasn't that surprising…

She looked up, about to ask if maybe she could just go see the child. She wasn't really that eager, but she was curios. And she felt like she owed a little bit to both Ulquiorra and Orihime in some way, though in all honesty she didn't know why.

… And Grimmjow was still yelling.

"Ha! Like I'd listen to you!" Grimmjow yelled at the green-haired girl. "Grimmjow Jaggerjaquez answers to no one!"

"Grimmjow."

He striated up immidatly. "Yes?"

"Take me down to the world of the living to see this child."

"Sure."

"Ha!" Lillinette crowed. "Answers to no one my ass!"

Grimmjow glared down at her from the corner of his eye. "Can it, kid."

Over in the corner of the area Rangiku started jumping up and down again. "Oh, oh! I'm going, I'm going!"

"Matsumoto," Toshiro growled. "You have paperwork to-"

"Tch. Fine."

"Bye-bye, Captain!" Rangiku sang, skipping after Soi Fon, who in turn followed closely behind Grimmjow. She gave a little wave a wink, jogging to catch up with the two in front of her.

"MATSUMOTO!"

They passed through the gate and then… silence.

(~)

"Woman, grab a hold of my hand." A charming, dashing, princely Ulquiorra reached down to offer his hand to Orihime, his three headed rainbow horse neighing in contempt. "I will show you a brand new land."

She accepted the hand, her princess dress swirling around her robotic limbs, her laser-powered lips turning up in a smile as she straitened her crown of bolts. She may have been the robot princess of Pluto, but that didn't mean she couldn't fall in love.

"Travel with me, my wondrous sweet!" Prince Ulquiorra continued to sing, his hands around her as he directed his horse into battle against the jelly donuts of doom. "And you'll never again be incomplete!"

They both extended their swords made out of lollipops, (somewhere off to the side Kisuke Urahara- mysteriously wearing a frilly pink dress- and Youruichi- wearing a tuxedo and cat ears- both furiously continued to carve weapons out of candy.) and swept their blades down through rows of enemies.

The princely Ulquiorra continued to sing, voice somehow deadpan even as he carried a tune. "I can show you the world," The song suddenly morphed into Disney's Aladdin. She was surprised to hear him sing it, had they ever even watched Aladdin together? "Shinning, shimmering, splendor."

He stabbed through a giant jelly-belly in front of her, the red filling splattering them and covering them completely. "Now tell me princess, just when did you last let your heart decide?"

From above, their beautiful angle-robot baby began to sing, throwing flaming bowling balls down at their junk food rivals. "A whole new world!"

Orihime joined in, shooting bullets of sprinkles from her fingertips. "A brand new place I never knew!"

Together, they all chorused. "No one to tell us no, or where to go-"

Suddenly the hamster lord, El Flufo-Fura, rose up from the battle, his eyes shining with mirth as he extended his paws, full to the brim with flame-colored cereal, milk pouring form the heavens as the horrible donuts of doom were all sucked down into the bogs of coffee.

"Orihime, Ulquiora, Ayume." The hamster king began. "You have fought w-"

"HELLO!?"

Orihime suddenly jolted upright, her bright hair flying around her head and shoulders, eyes wide. She blinked once, looking down at her skin, her legs swamped with blankets. "Just … A dream?"

Ulquiorra jolted up beside her, eyes wide, his hair a mass of messy black static. "There is something not-"

_Bang!_

Their door flew in, crashing against the wall opposite to it, shattering in the middle. Orihime groaned right away, her head sinking into her palms. "Grimmjow." She moaned. "That was a brand new door. What is it with you and doors?!" Before Grimmjow could answer she added, "What is it with everyone I know and doors?!"

"Well, sorry." Grimmjow drawled. "It's not like ya' had a window fer' us to bust through."

Ulquiorra, sounding extremely irritated, cut in. "Us?"

Soi Fon made her entrance then, stiffly walking in with her fists clenched in frustration. Her eyes were squinted almost all the way closed, her top lip just barely twitching. "We," She started, what may have been a tremble of anger in her voice, "Are very sorry. We will replace the door. With a better one."

Orihime did appreciate that, but still... "The door wasn't even locked!"

"Tch. You don't have to be so-"

Before Grimmjow could finish Soi Fon flashed to his side, reached up, and pinched a section of flesh between his shoulder and neck. He gave a high-pitched hiss and tried to reach up to pry her fingers away from him. He couldn't seem to reach up past his chest, though, as hard as he tried.

_Here I am before one of the most frightening women there is, _Orihime thought to herself as she drew her blanket up over her further, watching Soi Fon's face, _and I'm sitting in bed with only a nightgown on._

"Mom!"

The high-pitch cry drew everyone's attention to the door, where Ayume stood in her little pink and white polka-dot pajamas. She narrowed her eyes dangerously upon seeing the splintered door- even though she had grown up in Los Noches she still knew two things: one being that you never break things without reason and the other being that you do not, under any circumstance short of peril, barge into mommy and daddy's room in the morning.

"You really are stupid trash." She stated calmly to Grimmjow. She looked over at Soi Fon, gave her the once-over, and then nodded. "But you seem to know what to do with him."

"Ayume, come here."

"Okay daddy!" She dropped her cool façade and ran to the foot of the bed where she stopped to spring up in the air. She crawled over the covers to squirm into the space between her parents, grinning widely. "Who are our friends?"

"They're not our-"

"This is Soi Fon! And you already know Grimmjow!"

She nodded twice. "Yes, the trash!"

Said man blanched, looking crestfallen. "H-hey, I'm not-"

Ulquiorra nodded once to his daughter. "You are correct in that assumption."

She glowed under the praise, her bright smile lighting up the room. "I'm happy!" She declared, snuggling further into her father's side. "I love our family!"

Orihime giggled and smoothed the girl's wavy hair out, warm smile as loving as any. She looked up at her guests, noticing they had paused. Soi Fon was looking on it what may have been confusion and Grimmjow looked like he was holding back laughter. She narrowed her eyes at Grimmjow, sticking out her bottom lip.

"What's so funny?" She asked tearsly.

"It…" He took in a breath of air, trembling, honestly trying not to burst out into guffaws. "It's just… I can't take it!" He started laughing, hard enough that Soi Fon let go of his shoulder and backed up a step, cross. "Ulqui-fucking-orra! Repsonds… to…" He gulped for air frantically, holding his sides as if they were about to split, bent over at the waist. "DADDY!" With that he fell down, pounding a fist on the ground, practically roaring with laughter.

Orihime just looked at him, disbelieving. Had he grown a little more… Grimmjow-like since they had last met or was it just her? "…"

Ulquiorra silently seethed, but didn't say anything. His glare was directed solely on Grimmjow, still rolling about on the floor. Ayume noticed and turned to cross her arms and glare at the man in all her child anger.

Orihime sighed, waiting for him to stand. Coming back to the world of the living was… nice. But she could tell it was going to be strenuous. All she needed now was another guest, someone to just add to the chaos-

"Hime-chan!"

No.

There was no way.

In came bounding a woman burdened with copious amounts of chest, her broad smile practically flying off her face as she came sprinting into the room. She easily and questioning-less jumped over Grimmjow and then up into the bed, landing right on top of Orihime. She wrapped her arms around the younger woman, smiling broadly.

"Rangiku-san!?"

Ayume squealed in delight- the girl loved hugs, and promptly attached herself to the woman's arm. It was clear the little girl had only needed a single second to figure out Rangiku's identity. "Aunt Rangiku!"

If Rangiku's reaction to Orihime had been impressive, than her reaction to seeing Ayume was simply ostentatious. With what was almost a scream of happiness she attatched herself to the girl, loudly cooing about how cute she was as they both giggled.

For once, Orihime and Ulquiorra had matching reaction-faces. They both sat blank-faced, eyes unblinking, mouths pressed into thin lines.

"Get of the ground, fool!" Soi Fon was barking at Grimmjow.

"Daddy!" He laughed. "Ulquiorra is daddy!"

"I am going to smash in your skull!"

"I don't think you could if you tried."

"What did you just say to me you sissy little softy?"

"… What did you just call me?"

The couple watched the chaos in the room rise, Rangiku and Ayume still furiously chatting and hugging between them. All Orihime could think was, _wow. I'm still in my nightgown._

Finally, Ulquiorra reached his boiling point. "Enough." He sharply barked.

The room froze, occupants all turning to look at the former espada.

"You two." He seethed at Grimmjow and Soi Fon. "Take your child's quarrel elsewhere. You have already broken down our door, we do not need a hole in the floor due to your idiocy. And you-" He turned cold eyes to Rangiku. "You are in our bed."

The room slowly unfroze, everyone slinking into place until there were three people standing properly by the door, facing the three in bed. When all was orderly, Ulquiorra let out a breath.

"Thank you." He darkly bit out. "Now, if you will excuse us, we were sleeping before you buffoons so graciously interrupted us." And with that, he lay back down, pulled the covers up over his shoulders, and closed his eyes.

Soi Fon looked like she wanted to smack him for the 'buffoons' remark, but it was clear that she realized that she was already in deep enough. So without further ado the three left, Grimmjow with quit a bit of tugging form Soi Fon and Rangiku with a happy little wave and a promise to meet up later.

Orihime stayed sitting up in bed, frazzled.

"Well." She finally said. "At least things won't be boring?"

"Yay!" Ayume cheered.

It was clear that life would certainty be interesting from that point on.


	7. Hints

Okay, so it's only been a millenia since I've updated. You know, no biggy. IN other news, I'm going to comic con in springs this Saturday! My first cosplay, too, I'm going as Erza Scarlet. That, school, and then just my original stuff has been keeping me tied for a while, but, here I am for the time being. I hope you all enjoy this super uneddited chapter- hot off the press.

Notice! I will not be sticking so closely to the time-line, I'll kind of leap-frog here and there in almost one-shot like thingies. Tell me what you think!

* * *

Orihime wiped the back of her hand across her forehead, looking around the bakery's kitchen. Three hundred pastries in one day- all prepared by her. That had to be a new record, she was sure. She was almost certain the temperature was hot enough to be record breaking, at least. Having all the ovens going was to thank.

She looked up at the clock and sighed in relief- the work say was coming to a close just as she had frosted her last cupcake. She looked around to make sure no one was looking and then licked her fingers clean before heading over to the sink to wash up.

Ulquiorra, meanwhile, had just finished his shift at a nearby museum. For the moment he was a security guard, Orihime had insisted that eventually he would be in charge of taking care of artifacts or something similar that would put his keen eye to use. He reportedly enjoyed his job, though. Standing still, in one spot, observing the large room until he traded positions with another guard. It was, as he said, much easier and not nearly as strenuous as being her guard had been.

Orihime admittedly thought the uniform looked sexy, he liked the hours and the pay, and his callous nature towards people didn't matter so much when the only time he dealt with anyone was if they needed to be chastised anyway.

Orihime yawned, stretching her hands up over her head. Frosting so many cupcakes had taken extreme dedication, and due to her nerves about what was to come that evening she hadn't gotten much rest. Ulquiorra thought it was ridiculous, she had nothing to be worried about, but she still tossed and turned most of the night. She had almost been glad when she felt a hollow's spiritual pressure phase into existence just outside their apartment. She had reached over to the side of the table and grabbed her blue-clip on bracelet and popped right out of her body, happily smiling at Ulquiorra when took a gikon from the table beside him.

They had quickly taken care of the hollow and then returned to bed, and finally Orihime had been able to fall asleep.

_Beep-boop-boop-beep-boop-boop-boop-bleep-a-_

Orihime quickly flipped open her phone, holding it up to her ear with a smile. "Hell-ooooh?"

"I have finished my shift and am waiting for you outside."

She stood on her tiptoes and looked past where her coworker was manning the cash register to the window, and sure enough, he was waiting for her outside.

"Okay, I'll be there in a second. Um, why did you call me, though? You could have just come inside." She happily hung up her apron and grabbed her purse from the hook next to it, sending Geta a little wave as she went.

"Your coworker." He simply muttered.

"Oh!" It was a well-known fact that Geta tended to shamelessly crush on any attractive thing that happened in. And, well, she wouldn't deny that Ulquiorra may have been the most attractive thing to happen in, well, forever.

When she stepped outside she hung up the phone, slipping it back into her purse with a smile. "Hello there, mysterious stranger." She playfully giggled. "You look like you're from out of town."

With a light turn of his lips he held out his hand to her. "Come with me, woman."

They chatted as they walked down to the Kurosaki clinic to pick up their child- Orihime would never trust any day care, Sorra had tried it with her once and she had come home crying. Rukia was surprisingly good with kids, and though Ichigo was a little awkward with the small girl Ayume had come to adore him. Karin and Yuzu had also been adopted into Ayume's large list of aunts.

"We need to pick up some milk on the way home." Orihime mused.

"I did that on the way to meet you. There's a gallon in the fridge."

She smiled. "Well, aren't you ahead of me!"

He didn't answer her but give her a look from the corner of his eye, pulling up their linked hands on cue when she thrust her hip out to bump his. "Trying to start a war, are you?" He asked as he barely bumped her back.

"Me? I'm only the colonel admiral of the hip-check. Start a war for fun?" She smiled even wider, her eyes gleaming with a mischievous light. "Never!"

Ulquiorra looked up and away from her, catching a trio of teens staring at them. He whispered to Orihime without removing his eyes from the three, almost sounding playful. "We will continue this later, onna. And you will know the true meaning of despair."

"Oh, I'm frightened!" She teased.

"As well you should be."

They made it to the clinic and knocked on the door, Orihime letting their hands fall apart in preparation of what was to come. The door swung in, Karin standing with a slight frown. "Hey."

"Hello!" Orihime happily greeted.

"Be prepared." Karin warned as they started inside. "Rukia broke out the water colors."

To anyone else it would have sounded odd, but Orihime knew the dangers of art when it came to Ichigo and Rukia. Crayons had been bad enough, the paints had turned everything into an all-out war. No, Ayume, the only child in the room wasn't the problem.

"What's that supposed to be, Rukia?"

"Fool. It's obviously a bird."

"A bird? It looks like a melting popsicles on drugs."

"… Ichigo, can I have a word with you? In _private_?"

"Uh, um, er… no?"

"Oh. I see." _Wham!_

"Aunt Rukia, I don't think we're supposed to use sketchbooks like that..."

"Oh, honey, Ichigo likes it!"

"Are you crazy?! I'm not a masochist!"

Orihime came upon the seen, eyes wide despite the fact she had been warned. It looked like a hurricane had swept through the dining room, swiftly followed by a tornado. The only paper thing that had had escaped painting was the gain poster of Misake.

She wasn't surprised, to say the least. The only real surprise was that Rukia and Ichigo were keeping their hands to themselves, sitting diligently- if not pissed off- across from each other at the table.

Ichigo wiped the paint from his face, leaving his forehead red from where Rukia had slammed a sketchbook down on him. He smiled tersely at her, a vein in the side of his head ticking.

"Oh, Ichigo!" Rukia sweetly cooed. "It seems I got paint on your shirt!"

"You don't say?" He growled right back.

Ayume giggled from her place at the table- smile positively wicked. "Uncle Ichigo, how much do you love Aunt Rukia?" It was clear that the little girl had rehearsed this with Rukia sometime to another.

If Ichigo looked ticked before, now he looked ready to rip someone's throat out. Orihime had never actually known veins on Kurosaki's forehead bulged like that… "So. Very. _Much_."

"Would you do anything for her?"

He clenched his jaw, his smile coming out looking like a threatening glare and a grimace all at once. "_Anything_."

Rukia smiled sweetly back at him. "Really, darling?" She drew the last word out in a voice as sweet as honey, batting her eyelids while she fought back a sneering smile.

"Of course!" His voice raised a pitch. "Honey!"

Ayume smirked widely. "Then how about you agree to have pineapples in the wedding punch bowl!"

Orihime decided to butt in before her daughter could trick Ichigo into anything final. "Hello!" She cheerily called. "It looks like you've had fun!"

"Mommy!" Ayume hopped up, acting as if she had never sensed her mother to begin with, and toddled over to hug the older woman's knees. "I missed you!"

Orihime smiled, smoothing back her daughter's hair. "Did you have fun?"

She nodded.

Ulquiorra looked around the room, frowning lightly, and then put his arm around Orihime. "We… will see you both next time." He wearily involved the two shinigami before him. Both were locked in a staring/smiling match that could have lit water on fire.

"Okay!" They chorused. "Bye!"

Upon getting outside, Orihime shuddered. "They scare me sometimes."

Ulquoirra didn't look at her when he answered, "They frighten everyone."

"Not me!" Ayume happily piped. "I think they're funny!" She smiled up at both her parents, happily holding their hands in her own tiny palms.

As they walked home Orihime thought to Ichigo and Rukia's wedding. They had finally set a date- thanks to a prompt visit from Rukia's brother, whom had settled the day for them since they didn't really have anything special in mind.

Ayume was going to be a flower girl, and Orihime had the divine privlige of being the maid of honor. The bridesmaids numbered 3, excluding Orihime. There was Tatsuki, because she was a close friend of Ichigo's, and of course Karin and Yuzu. Rangiku had been devastated when she heard she wasn't a bridesmaid, but Rukia made a good point when she politely mentioned that she and Matsumoto weren't actually that close.

Byaukya would be giving Rukia away, and of course Ishin would be there. Renji was the best man, much to Ichigo's chagrin, and then on the men's side were the remaining Uyuu, Chad, Hanataro. Hanataro had nearly passed out when they had told him, and a little while later Keigo had almost past out when he learned he hadn't made the cut.

Ulquiorra was exceedingly pleased to be left out of the lineup.

And all of this would fall into place in just six weeks.

On the way home, Orihime fantasied about her own wedding. She wondered what it would have been like. She liked to imagine Ulquiorra in a tux with a small smile, all her friends and family out in the audience. She would get to have her own daughter as her flower girl, and while she liked that Rukia and Ichigo were using Kon as their ring bearer, she had a distant (three times removed) cousin's (twice removed) nephew in mind for the job.

If only she could drop the hint that she _wanted_ the marriage…

"You could just tell him, you know." Tatsuki had informed her through a mouth of Chinese food. "You two aren't exactly a conventional couple. You could make the first move. That's what I'd do."

"Oh, but Tatsuki, you're like that… I don't know, I want it to be romantic."

She snorted. "Does he even _do_ romantic?"

"Hey! He brought me flowers on our anniversary."

"Orihime, those weird dead trees don't count as flowers."

"Oh, come on. What else could he get me in Hueco Mundo?"

"Well, that aside, if you want to get married and you don't want to ask, start dropping hints. He's pretty sharp, he'll get what you want and ask."

But, as it was turning out, Ulquiorra seemed to be not-so-sharp at one thing, and one thing only. And that was picking up the clues that Orihime wanted him to ask her to marry him.

She first tried the everyone-else-is-doing-it approach.

"Ne, Ulquiorra?"

He barely looked up from his book. "Hm?"

"It's cute that Kuchiki-kun and Kurosaki-kun are getting married, huh?"

"Mm-hm."

She leaned over his shoulder, looking down at the book. She silently cursed herself for picking up any book on astrophysics and promised to never do it again if she wanted him to listen.

"Just think. Soon all of our friends will be getting married…"

"Your friends." He corrected.

She went on without approaching the comment. "Won't it be weird when we're the only one's who aren't married?"

"Indeed."

"…"

"…"

She coughed.

"Forgive me, was there something you needed?"

She sighed. "Never mind…"

Thus initiated attempt number two- the I-really-like-wedding-rings-don't-you approach.

"Ne, Ulquiorra?"

"Hm?" He paused where he had been shifting his hand through her hair.

"Do you like Kuchiki's wedding ring?"

"It is an engagement ring, Orihime." He leaned closer, breathing in her scent. "You spent all that time putting Ayume to bed and now you are using up this time with trivial things."

She gasped lightly when he started to suck on her neck. "Y-yeah, but, don't you think it would be cool to have a ring like that?"

He paused, almost seeming a little frustrated. "We do not have the money for such trivialities at the moment." He then returned his full attention to her neck.

And, well, like she was going to get in another word about it after that.

So launched attempt number three- the I-kind-of-think-I'd-look-good-in-a-wedding-dress-i nstead-of-a-bridesmaid-dress approach.

"Ulquiorra?"

"Yes, what is it?" He didn't turn away from where he was diligently scrambling eggs for Ayume before they left to drop her off at the Kurosaki clinic.

"I think I would look good in a wedding dress. Don't you?"

He looked up at her out of the corner of his eye and gave her the once-over before looking back down into the eggs. After a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure Ayume was occupied by her coloring book, he answered; "You look ravishing no matter what you wear, Onna, be it silk or a paper bag."

And while she did appreciate the compliment, it hadn't been what she was looking for.

Try four she had pointed out a wedding cake in a magazine Rukia had told her to look through, incase the shinigami had missed anything. "Ulquiorra, do you think this cake would look good if we had our names on it?"

He glanced over at the picture. "That cake is hideous to begin with."

She pouted. "Well, what about this one?"

"It makes no difference whose names they frost on, it will still look like any other wedding cake they make. I do not understand why the appearance of the cake matters so much. Isn't it the taste you are so fixated on? Perhaps the shinigami woman should not be browsing by sight, but rather by taste."

Good advice? Yes. Had he taken her clear-as-day hint? No.

Five was the last idea she had. It was practically asking the question herself. She was sure, absolutely sure, there was no way he could miss the hint.

She turned over in bed, smiling as she snuggled into his side. "Ulquiorra? What if we got married?"

"Then we would be legally wed."

He had the gall to look confused when she swiftly got up out of bed and walked out into the kitchen, her mouth pressed into a thin line and her shoulders stiff because _darn it why won't he ask me to marry him!_

"Tatsuki, I don't know what to do!" She whined over the phone. "I've tried everything I can think of, but he just won't ask me to marry him!"

"Hm… I never thought that you two were alike but, hey, it looks like your both romantically dense."

"Tatsuki, this is serous!"

"Fine, fine. Okay, I have an idea. Why don't you just ask?"

"You already told me this idea." She huffed.

"Oh yeah. Well… you could… Oh! I got it!"

And thus the final attempt was launched, just three and a half weeks before Rukia and Ichigo's wedding.

"Ulquiorra?"

"Orihime, do you realize you are spilling mustard everywhere?"

_Oh, crap! Why did I have to pick lunchtime to do this? Get it together, Orihime, we can do this! … And stop talking to yourself in your head, it's weird. Maybe a little fun. Echo, echo, echo! Ah, Hime, focus!_

"Um, yep! Uh, Ulquiorra, I was thinking."

He waited.

"What would it sound like if you asked me to marry you?"

He blinked once. "… Orihime?"

She beamed. Here it was! Here it was, he was actually going to do it! "Yes?"

"If you do not stop obsessing over weddings than I am going to have to ask you to no longer plan with that shinigami woman. You are becoming consumed by it."

She felt her entire face fall. "B… Bu… But…"

"Now, look at your hands. You are creating a mess."

She had never been so frustrated all of her life. The entire day she had huffed and stormed about the apartment, openly pouting. That night she even slammed the bathroom door before Ulquiorra could follow her into the shower.

When she got out she was still grumpy, so she crossed her arms over her towel-covered top and marched right out into the bedroom.

Where Ulquiorra was waiting in her path.

Kneeling.

On one knee.

"Woman, if you wanted me to marry you, you could have just asked." He deadpanned.

She felt herself go red. "Ah- I- I- I-"

He sighed. "I suppose I should do this the proper way. Orihime Inoue. Would you allow me your hand in marriage?" He waited, and when she just gaped like a fish, tacked on a dry, "Please?"

Her entire face lit up with joy as she shamelessly launched herself at him, full on tackling her now fiancé and laughing at they hit the ground.

"Yes!" She giggled happily. "Of course I'll marry you Ulquiorra-kun."

She never did notice the phone on the bed where she had left him sitting- the last person to have called being Tatsuki. She did, however, wonder why her best friend sounded so smug when Orihime called to tell her the news the next day…


End file.
